Essay on Capitalist Models in China and Russia Regarding Communism

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, many nations including Russia and China that used to be strong advocates of socialism and communism have moved or transited to a more capitalistic model of their national economies. According to Gilpin and Gilpin (2000), the profound global transformations currently being experienced globally in terms of the political, legal, and economic systems are largely responsible for this rapid rise of capitalism and the decline of communism almost into oblivion. Moreover, I think the other reason most countries find communism unattractive is its undesirable characteristics, such as its opposition to globalization and a free market economy. I believe these aspects of communism are no longer in tandem with the contemporary world economic order, models, and realities.

What is more, I think the other reason most countries are moving away from communism towards capitalism is because of the tremendous benefits of the latter economic model. For instance, capitalism promotes private sector growth, globalization, and privatization of firms, technological innovation, direct foreign investments, and free trade. Moreover, I think the economic liberalism that currently characterizes international trade has also been responsible for the shift from communism to capitalism.

Furthermore, my view is that many countries now realize that the best way of achieving economic prosperity is by allowing free movement of people and goods and for the market to be controlled by the natural forces of demand and supply rather than by authoritative governments. Additionally, I agree with Gilpin and Gilpin (2000) that the shift in the national economic and foreign policies of countries like the US and the change in national priorities have also led to the movement of countries towards the capitalist model as the international economy continues to encourage trade liberalization and free markets.

However, in my opinion, there are also certain aspects of communism that have not worked and this partly explains the fall of communism and the rapid growth of capitalistic model of national economies. Some of the components of communism that have not worked according to me include the insistence on closed national borders and limitation of labor mobility, the inability of communist regimes to curb runaway corruption, opposition or resistance to globalization, the limitation of individual rights, freedoms, and liberties. It seems to me that all these shortcomings of communism partly explain the current global movement from communism to the capitalist economic model.

Reference

Gilpin, R., & Gilpin, J.M. (2000). The challenge of global capitalism: The world economy in the 21st century. The New York Times. Retrieved January 10, 2018, from http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/g/gilpin-capitalism.html